"I'd love to work more with the American Indians, my people."

"I was the first woman ever named Entertainer of the Year in country music."

"In the long run, you make your own luck - good, bad, or indifferent."

"I know what it's like to be pregnant and nervous and poor."

"I never knew any Jews until I got into show business. I've found them to be real smart and good workers."

"I believe in horoscopes. I was born under the sign of the Ram, which means I'm headstrong, don't like people telling me what to do."

"I'm not a big fan of Women's Liberation, but maybe it will help women stand up for the respect they're due."

"I'd love to travel to the Holy Land."

"I know there's some kind of history to mountain music-like it came from Ireland or England or Scotland and we kept up the tradition."

"The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires."

"My biggest hero, Gregory Peck, was my birthday present on April 14, 1973. I just sat and stared at him."

"Once in a while I get inspired and finish my act with the hillbilly hoedown."

"When all those city folks try to fix up my talking, all they do is mess me up."

"Me and my partner, Conway Twitty, cleaned up at the 1972 Country Music Association Awards."

"I think Charley Pride has been one of the best things to happen to country music, to prove it belongs to everybody."

"My life has run from misery to happiness."

"I'm trying to lead a good Christian life, so there ain't too much spicy to tell about me."

"I'm always making Butcher Holler sound like the most backward part of the United States-and I think maybe it is."

"I don't go to church regular. But I pray for answers to my problems."

"I get along with all the women singers, but especially Dolly Parton. We talk the same hillbilly language."

"There's more women stars in Nashville all the time. They're proving they can do the job the same as a man."

"I believe in education and wish I had a better one."

"Back then, we didn't know we were poor, and people were more proud then."

"I ain't got much education, but I got some sense."

"I've seen every highway in the United States, and they all look alike to me."

"I don't like to talk about things where you're going to gt one side or the other unhappy. My music has no politics."

"I love people and I love to sing, and that's what keeps me going."

"I won all the blue ribbons for canning at the state fair."

"How do you measure your value?"

"I try to visit people in hospitals when I can, smiling and joking while I'm there. But when I leave, I just start crying."

"A woman's two cents worth is worth two cents in the music business."

"I loved being outside. We'd hold lightning bugs in our fingers and pretend they were diamond rings."

"Mommy smoked but she didn't want us to. She saw smoke coming out of the barn one time, so we got whipped."

"Doo never actually made moonshine, but he hauled about an ocean of it."

"I've been around a long time, and life still has a whole lot of surprises for me."

"I've seen country music go uptown, like we say, and I'm proud I was there when it happened."

"I was married when I wasn't quite 14 and had four babies by the time I was 18."

"Because Olivia Newton-John wasn't from Nashville, they didn't like her winning our awards. I've got no complaints."

"There's always been a man telling me what to do."

"Growing up in eastern Kentucky like I did, I'm used to having a few guns around to protect me."

"Doolittle looked just like a little toy soldier the first time I ever saw him."

"Being on stage is the best part of my career. I just say whatever comes into my head. It's the only time I feel grown-up and in control of things."

"I've always been full of nervous energy, but I'm not really as happy as I seem."

"I wasn't for Vietnam. When I told that to the hippie newspaper, all my people got nervous."

"Do the best you can with yourself and hope for the best."

"Daddy was real gentle with kids. That's why I expected so much out of marriage, figuring that all men should be steady and pleasant."

"A lot of people say I'd miss show business if I quit. I'd miss some of it. Now it's the only life I know."

"You get used to sadness, growing up in the mountains, I guess."

"When something is bothering me, I write a song that tells my feelings."

"Sometimes I think our problems are made worse by the kind of business we're in. Playing these road shows is a weird experience."